National domain umbrella 'to democratise Tanzanian internet'

30 October 2009

The launching of the first umbrella domain registration facility in Tanzania this week will play an important role in bringing connectivity to more citizens, it has been suggested.

Manager of the Tanzania Network Information Centre (TNIC) Abibu Ntahigiye was quoted by national newspaper the Citizen as saying the creation of the online identity ending in .tz would make a difference to the level of internet access in the country.

"Use of local domains will play a part in reducing connectivity prices on the virtue of reduced traffic to overseas countries from Tanzania," he explained.

TNIC revealed this move could stand to more than double the number of those operating under country-specific identification codes, offering the statistic of 5,200 locally registered .tz sites compared to Kenya's 12,000.

Efforts to lower costs have been complemented by a recent announcement from the Tanzania Telecommunication Company.

It declared it was halving its internet charges for small and medium-sized businesses and lowering other prices following connection to the Seacom submarine fibre optic cable.

Category: ICT